Several years ago, I returned to the squash court after a twenty-year hiatus. I love the game. Unfortunately, I had to stop playing again because my knee was acting up…too many years spent pounding through the bumps on the ski hill finally caught up to me.
But during my brief return to the squash court, a friend and I took weekly lessons from an instructor by the name of Rick. He was a retired elementary school teacher, which might explain his patience.
Rick broke down the game of squash for us. Here is a summary of what we learned. As you’ll see, learning to play squash well is rather like learning to live well.
Rules of the Game
- Find the teachers who care enough to teach you, even when they don’t get paid.
- The best teachers are far more concerned with making you a better player than making you feel better about your game.
- After the teacher is gone is often when you finally learn the lessons.
- Take time to learn the basic skills.
- The goal is to learn to hit the ball well—not just hit it.
- Practice the basic skills over and over again until you’ve mastered them.
- Good skills become good habits.
- If you have developed good habits, when game time comes these will automatically kick in.
- There is a difference between being taught skills and actually learning them.
- The more you put your entire self into hitting the ball, the more impactful your efforts will be.
- Learn skills first; strategy second.
- Practice the skills on your own before rallying with a partner.
- Practice one component of a skill over and over before moving on to the next component.
- Know the difference between a rally and a game.
- a) A rally is when you hit the ball to your partner so that he or she can return it.
- b) A game is when you hit the ball to your opponent so that he or she can’t return it.
- Slow…down…your…rally. The purpose of practicing is to develop your skills, not score a point.
- You will NOT win the game if you haven’t mastered the basic skills.
And what is “the game” but a happy, peaceful, purposeful life?
But, just like in a good game of squash, real life speeds up. So if we don’t have good habits (the basic skills) firmly in place—such as proper rest; good nutrition, clear priorities, balance, living within our means, exercise, fun, spending time in nature, ability to say no to unreasonable demands on our time, healthy boundaries in place, spending quality time with friends, family and pets, downtime on our own, etc—when life gets busy, we risk burning out and getting temporarily sidelined.
And that’s okay…just as long as we learn whatever lesson/s the game of life might be trying to teach us.
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Previously Published on Pink Gazelle
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